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Tuesday, 16 June 2015

Game 104 - Dwarves - 2014/03/14

Game 6 - James - Dwarves - Battle Line

In the game 6 I faced my friend James who brought his stalwart Dwarves to the tournament. I had an honour to face his army twice before so I am sure his Book of Grudges has some chapters about my elves and some score to settle! In fact, we played last year at CanCon and back then James challenged me in the first round!

I hope you will find the game interesting despite the fact it was still the army list from old army book for Dwarves.

Quite a few great weapon wielding Dwarves here! :) Having played against James before I noticed a few usual suspects. He likes to played with bigger infantry blocks so I was not really surprised with the 3 great weapon wielding regiments. Anvil seemed to be his thing too, despite occasional spectacular explosions it caused. I expected war machines but this time instead of grudge throwers I had to deal with very dangerous Organ Gun. Thunderers also nicely added to the army as small arms fire is very good in destroying these small regiments or finishing some stragglers.

Let's have a closer look at his army list:

Runelord

A stalwart general, his roles are multiple thanks to his own abilities and extra things he gained from the Anvil. Very good anti-magic even without runes of spell breaking. Anvil allowed him to either slow down the advance of some of my regiments or move some of his own at an appropriate moment. Very good in combination with Miners too! Even with just a single rune of stone he was quite well protected. If positioned right it may be very difficult to even get to him.

Thane BSB

Simple yet efficient combination for 1+ armour save with ability to re-roll. Very, very helpful character for Dwarves, in particular for stubborn hammerers. However, even with 1+ and re-rolls he can die to some higher strength attacks some of my combat units can provide and since he is probably going to be with one of the blocks anyway there is a chance to direct all the possible hits against him and try to get him down.

Dragon Slayers

Very good for war machines protection or as small redierctors themselves. Can stop any unit, if only for a turn but my previous experience showed that small frontage and T5 causes some elves real problem.

Engineer

Since James didn't load his warmachines with runes this character was very helpful indeed. He could also provide some extra protection via trenches and his extra attacks with great weapon can be very useful in fighting off some fast but light enemy troops.

Warriors

Good, stalwart Warriors with the great weapons. May not have huge staying power due to heavy armour only but their significant numbers meant they would not go down without the fight and in fact, they can hurt some enemies too.

Thunderers

In one of our previous games James didn't have small arms troops and thanks to that survivors from Swordmasters units, who suffered greatly from the grudge throwers fire, could sneak in between his regiments and destroy his war machines. I am sure Thunderes were included to be prepared for such situations but there are always some good targets for them in any match up. In this game their aid would be definitely noted!

Cannons

Not many runes on these, only one with burning attacks. However, two cannons with the nearby Engineer are very reliable anyway! I had a feeling that if I didn't had a place to hide my eagles or bolt thrower, they would not live long. But that is usually the case with cannons and the targets they might pick.

Hammerers

Even better regiment than Warriors. WS5, S6 and stubborn makes them very dangerous indeed. The magic banner allows to minimize the casualties taken from the shooting and/or magic missiles and I expected them to occupy central position so that more units could benefit from that protection.

Miners

Some more great weapon wielding Dwarves who can appear on your flank and charge immediately thanks to the power of the Anvil. All depended on the dice rolls that would determine when they are going to arrive but steam drill ensured the chances for that were increased and I had to assume they would show up exactly when James wanted them to be present.

Organ Gun

A priority target for me to destroy. Preferably with some magic missiles (despite possible protection from the banner) as I expected it to be hidden behind the troops. The faster I destroyed that infernal machine the faster I can approach the enemy lines and engage his troops in combat.

James won the roll off to pick the table side and promptly announced that he is sorry but previous experiences thought him that castle is the best formation against MSU elves. He simply stated that he didn't want to risk his warriors to be encircled again and chose to fight defensive war in order to prevent defeat in the first place. That meant I had to come up with the idea on how to storm that castle.

I decided to do so with the cavalry as a far wing that can cover more distance and catch up with infantry approaching through shorter path. I even didn't quite wanted to stay with shooters in one place as I thought I might need them in some redirecting missions or, if opportunity arises, to add some ranks to combat and prevent the Dwarves from being steadfast.

I also didn't want to move too close to the edge as I knew that some Miners would love that opportunity to charge my regiments. Here is how we ended up deploying our forces:Deployment

Yet another Tomato Plantation! :)

Deployment of the armies after vanguard - Miners digging the tunnels!

As promised, James castled. His runelord was very well shielded, Engineer entrenched Organ Gun and stayed close to the war machines. Dragon Slayers helped to guard the flank.

Elves deployed wide, with eagles hiding behind the hills but no good place to hide Bolt Thrower. Small maze was in front of the elven warriors but other than that only the forest was in their path.

James won the roll off and his was first turn!

Dwarves - Turn 1

Castle reshaped!

Opening fire!

Dwarves, seeing Elves deployed to their flank, slightly reshaped their formation to face the approaching enemy. Not many targets were in range so cannons aimed at the Eagle Claw and the only Elven war machine was destroyed. Few older warriors grumbled about elven inability to build anything solid.

Runelord stroke his anvil and two dragon princes were unhorsed while remaining knights had to slow down to control their spooked steeds.

Outcasts - Turn 1

Forward!

Wide outflanking maneuver

Elves moved rapidly but still maintained healthy distance from the deadly Organ Gun. The attempts to cast magic were generally dispelled, only Iceshard Blizzard overwhelmed Thunderers. Due to movement and good protection the shooting by elven army was unimpressive.

Dwarves - Turn 2

Miners enter the battle field!

This time cannon crews practice shooting at moving targets

Dwarven miners appear in the nearby woods and prompted by the sound of the Anvil, charge! Sisters and Sea Guard do not fancy being charged to the flank by a bunch of dirty Dwarves and retreat to the center of the formation.

Cannon crewmen had made a small wager who can kill the eagle first and the guys who operate the one with flaming cannonballs win the bet!Outcasts - Turn 2

Fighting fire with fire!

Outflanking continues

Bob the BSB ordered his Archers to reform and shoot at the Miners. Despite protection from the nearby trees a few of them fell to some well placed arrows.

Other regiments kept moving around the flank and again tried to maintain the distance that didn't allow the Organ Gun to fire. Larry the Loremaster this time won the mind war against the Runesmith. A Fireball materialized out of thin air and consumed the crew of the Organ Gun. Now that the most dangerous war machine was silenced Elves hoped to speed up their advance.

Dwarves - Turn 3

Cannons aim at densely packed Swordmasters

Miners charge but fail!

Dwarven artillery might have been weakened but could still hurt. A few Swordmasters were knocked down by cannon balls. Miners once again charge the Elves but this time were met by arrows and to their surprise Elves fought. And what is more they fought so well that Miners lost heart and fled only to be caught by fleet footed Archers.

Outcasts - Turn 3

Dragon Princes vs Dragon Slayers!

The Dwarven battle line was still hard to breach but one of the units of Dragon Princes spotted two lone figures near the phalanx of warriors. They leveled their lances and charged two orange hair lunatics, avenging some great wyrms from the ages past that fell to the axes of these barbaric Dwarves. One of them found his death in combat but the second one was still there to fight!

Dwarves - Turn 4

Dwarves fight back

Hammer time!

Warriors moved fast but their short legs gave no hope to catch swift reavers who feigned flight and moved out of harms range. Exposed Dragon Princes were not quick enough to get second Dragon Slayer and fell to the powerful counter charge by the Hammerers.

Dwarven line was not as smooth any more but the warriors still presented unified front.

Outcasts - Turn 4

Ellyrian Reavers blocking the enemy units - at least that was the plan!

Swordmasters challenge Dwarven Warriors

Elves move much faster now and position themselves for inevitable fights. Reavers perform tough duty of harassing and distracting the enemy while Swordmasters challenge Warriors to enter the combat and show who is more skillful in wielding great weapons.

Dwarves - Turn 5

Hammerers outsmart the Reavers

While warriors finally catch some light cavalry

Dwarves decided that attack is the best form of defense and charged again. Warriors fought the reavers, who this time held their ground but after quick exchange of blows only single horsemen was left and he could not hold against the whole regiment of angry Dwarves.

Second unit of Reavers was ignored and Hammerers, as if magic touched, reformed swiftly and charged exposed flank of Swordmasters who had to retreat. Fortunately, Hammerers were not fast enough to get into contact with any other unit.

Outcasts - Turn 5

Attack on the left flank

Units on the right flank stand by

Swordmasters and Archers charge in unison against the warriors who suffer horrendous casualties but bite back and are still steadfast.

White Lions guard the flank of their companions by moving in front of the hammerers and blocking their path to the combat. On the right flank units move and counter move but still do not commit.

Dwarves - Turn 6

Who is more stubborn?

Few Swordmasters die to Dwarven axes but not before they fell many of the warriors. With pressure from the flank they do not have numbers any more to hold. They break and once more, humble Archers run down their foes and capture their standard.

White Lions attack Dwarven BSB but somehow fail miserably. The retribution was swift and only thanks to their stubbornness they held their ground. Outcasts - Turn 6

Surrounded but holding the line

Last push!

Elves orchestrated the last powerful attack. On the left Reavers attacked the cannon, destroyed it and overrun in time to join Archers attacking Thunderers. Combined effort destroyed that unit too.

Meanwhile, on the right flank, 3 units charged against the Dwarven warriors. However, the attack was not as powerful as expected and not as many Dwarves fell as Elves would want to. Hard pressed Warriors managed to hold their ground. Barely!

While the Dwarven army was still a force in strength, their positions were overrun and they didn't maintain the formation so the main objective for Elves, to break through, was achieved.

Summary

Turn-by-turn animation summary

After-battle thoughts

First of all, I would like to thank James for as always enjoyable game. It was a very close game, as in the end I managed to scrap 11-9 victory. It seems that I lost a few units on the way and the fact that the last charge didn't break second units of warriors also mattered.

In general I was happy with the way the army worked this time. There was a lot of going on and the game was not boring at all. As always there are things that I think could have been done better.

I think moving away from the forest on the left was a mistake as I didn't avoid the miners and they slowed the advance instead. I believe I should have positioned Lions on that flank as even if charged they should hold the attackers in place and would allow for the counter charge.

Placing Swordmasters in front of the maze was also a mistake. Shooters would have been way better there as they don't have to advance that fast but can still be active.

The most serious mistake was with the reavers that supposed to block hammerers. I didn't do it well enough and they could charge anyway, thanks to the Anvil of course. Fortunately for me, James didn't attack with Warriors to pin the unit down as it would have seen them dead for sure. Warriors to the front and Hammerers to the flank would have destroyed them easily and put other units in danger too.

I am very happy with the last turn charges though. I was close to breaking that second unit of warriors but true to Dwarven fashion they were too stubborn to admit defeat :)